CfP: The Impacts of Ethnomusicology (British Forum for Ethnomusicology & International Council for Traditional Music Ireland)
Reminder Call for Papers and Extension: The Impacts of Ethnomusicology
British Forum for Ethnomusicology & International Council for Traditional Music Ireland Joint-Annual Conference, Cork, Ireland
University College Cork, 4-7 April 2024
Deadline for Submissions: 24 November 2023
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Beverley Diamond
The 2024 theme will be The Impacts of Ethnomusicology. Prospective participants are encouraged to submit proposals that resonate with this theme. However, presentations of any new research are also welcome, whether these engage with the theme or not.
Ethnomusicologists are dedicated to the nuanced understanding of humanity at both global and local levels. As researchers, we attend critically to the accumulated knowledge and insights of musicians, dancers and the communities that surround them: we analyse their commemorations of the past, their representations of present realities, their visions of a better world, and even their more dystopian dreams. But as witnesses to these moments where lives are remade through performance, how far are we, as ethnomusicologists, obligated to contribute to the social agendas of those whom we study?
In this conference we reflect upon the changes we envision and inspire through our efforts as ethnomusicologists. We encourage participants to share their experiences with regard to the planning and realization of cultural, societal or humanitarian benefits; the support of specific musicians, dancers and communities; or the broader safeguarding of the planet and its human and non-human inhabitants. We seek to take broader stock of the place of “applied” research in our discipline. The meeting is also a chance to reflect on the unintended consequences of our work, whether in the field or classroom and as engaged scholars, performers, activists, collaborators and mediators more broadly.
Associated questions that could become focal to these conversations include:
What impacts arise from our presence in (or absence from) particular scenes or communities?
What ethical responsibilities come with socially directed scholarship?
When have we held back from the prospect of impactful action and why?
What can we learn from reflecting on misdirected, misunderstood or missed opportunities?
Who can we work with to “co-produce” impact or to help give voice to a group’s impacts?
Whom do we need to impact, and what strategies, alliances and approaches are available to us in working with other stakeholders, decision makers, cultural elites, community leaders, and so on? What are the impacts on us of such engagements?
How are methodological approaches or theoretical frameworks, e.g., feminism, race theory, queer theory, impacting the ethnomusicological research process and its outcomes?
What new impacts do we face or might we draw upon in an increasingly digitalized world?
How do we seek to balance or prioritise the impacts of work that has resonances both within and beyond the academy?
We welcome proposals that address one or more of these questions, or which pose other questions related to the impacts of ethnomusicology, as well as those relating to new research more broadly.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 24 NOVEMBER 2023. Successful applicants will be notified in December.
Please note that all presenters must be 2024 members of the BFE or ICTM Ireland (i.e., members at the time of the conference).
Proposals are invited for:
Papers (20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions)
Panels (3 or 4 linked papers around a theme, totalling 1.5 or 2 hours)
Roundtables (3 or 4 shorter presentations, around 15 minutes each, followed by a chaired discussion, totalling 1.5 or 2 hours)
Performance-based presentations or workshops (with durations as above)
Posters
Films or other media presentations (again with durations as above)
Collaborative presentations that include an ethnomusicologist and one or more practitioners, performers or other research participants. Collaborative research participants do not need to be members of the BFE/ICTM Ireland. Please contact Jonathan Stock to discuss possible options.
Abstracts for individual papers should be no more than 300 words. For panels and roundtables, please send paper abstracts of no more than 300 words each, together with a panel/roundtable description of no more than 100 words. Submission of abstracts is via this link: https://forms.gle/u1D2vkr7WpNLmDSG7.
All abstracts will be peer reviewed.
The Committee are very keen to make this as much of a collegiate, in-the-room event as possible. Recent hybrid panels at BFE and ICTM IE meetings have tended to gain less audience than parallel in-person sessions. The conversations, networking, and socialising that happens around and outside of programmed presentations are, we feel, an integral and vital part of conference life, and we therefore encourage everyone wherever possible to participate in-person.
At the same time, we recognise that overseas participants may be unwilling to travel for environmental reasons, and equally that financial constraints on some participants may make in-person attendance difficult (although students and scholars requiring financial support to attend; please see below regarding bursaries). A number of hybrid sessions will be arranged for those who are unable to attend the meeting in person.
Conference Codes of Conduct
The conference will be run in accordance with the BFE Conference Code of Conduct and the ICTM Ireland Code of Conduct (forthcoming). By taking part in the conference, you agree to be bound by these codes.
Bursaries and Student Prize
BFE: We invite presenters and attendees who are students, who are BIPOC scholars, or who are unable to pay fees because of severe economic, political or other constraints to apply for a subsidy or waiver to help defray the costs of participating in the conference. Details concerning available bursaries will be circulated on the BFE email list closer to the conference date.
Student presenters are also encouraged to submit their papers for the BFE Student Prize, awarded annually for the best student paper presented at the BFE annual conference.
ICTM IE: ICTM Ireland will invite student and independent scholar members to apply for travel bursaries to attend the conference. Details of these bursaries will be circulated via the ICTM Ireland mailing list.
Conference Organising Committee
Prof. Jonathan Stock (chair; contact for routine enquiries: j.stock[at]ucc.ie)
Ms Kelly Boyle, Dr Michelle Finnerty, Dr Ann-Marie Hanlon, Dr Alexander Khalil, Dr Matthew Machin-Autenrieth, Mr Luigi Monteanni, Dr Lijuan Qian, Dr Kaylie Streit, Dr Jack Talty